By Cara Martinez
Staff Writer
The beautiful city of Thailand had much more to offer for three costa students than the tourist attractions. Despite of the sight seeing and exotic foods, teaching the children was the most memorable experience of the entire trip.
Costa sophomores, Anna Harntaweethong, Audrey Turman, and Isabelle marsh spent 17 days in the country and they taught elementary students at a nearby school located in the city of Bangkok. They taught third and first graders and they were at the school for one for a total of three hours.
“My cousin goes to Chang Akart Bamrung school, and I thought it would be a fun experience to show my friends how Thailand’s school system works,” Harntaweethong said.
The costa students taught the children basic english such as letters and spelling. They taught them about animals by incorporating the knowledge into charades and memory games. The majority of students have taken English classes so they were able to understand basic English.
“I have done this before, it is cool to expose the kids to American culture, since most kids do not travel far from home,” Marsh said.
A typical day consists of an assembly, multiple lessons of spelling, games and lunch time. The day started with an assembly in which the principal spoke, and the children and first grade had an interactive lesson. The costa students spent an hour each with first and third graders, teaching them lessons.
“This trip gave me the opportunity to enjoy Thailand, but it also taught me to appreciate what I have in the U.S,” Marsh said.
According to Marsh, the difference about the school is that it’s a very religious and the students are required to wear uniforms. Buddhism is a popular religion in Thailand so most students are Buddhist. The students start the day every morning with a prayer.
“Religion is a big factor in Thailand because a huge majority of them are Buddhists, so they spend a lot of their time praying,” Marsh said.
The students are young, ranging from ages 7-9. Even though they knew some English they didn’t know enough to keep a full conversation. Harntaweethong being Thai herself, helped with the translations when communicating to the students.
“Even though we traveled to Thailand to teach them, I took home some new knowledge of how to speak Thai and the students helped us learn basic words,” Marsh said.
After class, they had lunch with some of the third graders and they all connect during lunch by learning each other’s names and figuring out how to communicate with other. The kids also brought them Thai Candy.
“I think the fact that the kids were so eager to learn and talk with us really stuck with me by making me feel like I impacted them in such a positive way,” Turman said.
According to Turman, the children were positive, and they felt comfortable talking to the costa students by telling things about themselves and showing them their interests. The kids showed them some interesting things such as bugs that the little boy would catch.
“I recommend this trip to other costa students because it was a very memorable experience and it was fun to meet new people, Harntaweethong said.
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